Help with Hypertech

[98 softtail]

While at the Punta Gorda show I bid on a Hypertech Power Programmer III and won(i was the only bidder), go figure. Unfortunately, the unit is still locked to the original car's vin# and will not work until it's unlocked from that car. If anyone knows who put the Hypertech unit in the silent auction could they get in touch with me. I paid $101.00 for the thing and it is usless to me. I contacted Hypertech and they will not even reprogram it. Or if anyone knows a shop or someway to reset / update the unit so that I can use it.

Thanks,
Joe B.

[Ms. AntiVenom]

Im pretty sure (and so are the boys) it is locked to the vin of the original car, you have to suck the tune out of that car to use it on another vin.
I guess that is their way of "protecting their investment" Silly stuff

[Mark Dalton]

Man! I hate to say it, but you may have wasted $100. I've used Hypertech's stuff before and know of no way to unlock them once they download a cars program. You have to use it to return the original car to stock before the programmer can be used again.

[98 softtail]

Originally Posted by Mark Dalton

Man! I hate to say it, but you may have wasted $100. I've used Hypertech's stuff before and know of no way to unlock them once they download a cars program. You have to use it to return the original car to stock before the programmer can be used again.

I would hope that a fellow 'vetter from a nearby club would not try to scam anyone. I hope someone on this forum can contact the person that put the item up for auction and let them know that unless they want to remove the tune from their car, which would unlock the vin# they should do the right thing and return my money.

[JIM KILL]

Here is everything you need to know!!!
Sorry
Jim

[Rich Z]

Yeah, the Diablo Predator works the same way. Once you download the program to the PCM, the unit is locked to that VIN. When you restore the stock tune, the unit then becomes unlocked and can be used on a different VIN vehicle. I've since purchased HPtuner and EFIlive, but still keep the Predator around anyway. It's better suited to checking and clearing error codes for me....

Pretty much all of the tuners, whether handheld or PC based are going to put restrictions in place to limit the number of tunes you can do for the set fee you paid. Unless you want to spend several thousand bucks to get the full blown tuner version that allows unlimited tunes, you should expect to be limited in some fashion or another for the base price.

Looking at it from their perspective, unless they did it that way, anyone could pay the base price and then go to town doing unlimited tunes to other folks cars. Obviously they are in this business to make money, so they would rather sell a bunch of their units than to have one guy giving away free tunes all day long.

Now, that being said, it is EXTREMELY doubtful that whoever put that Hypertech on auction didn't know all this beforehand. He was basically auctioning off a paperweight. I believe the Predator, even after being locked can still check and reset error codes on other vehicles, but I'm not sure about the Hypertech.

[jcb_njb]

I would contact someone connected with Corvettes of Charlotte County to get your money back.

[98 softtail]

Originally Posted by jcb_njb

I would contact someone connected with Corvettes of Charlotte County to get your money back.

I sent an email to the pres of the club, Jon Porter. We will see.

[Rich Z]

Originally Posted by 98 softtail

I sent an email to the pres of the club, Jon Porter. We will see.

I would be REAL surprised if the club accepted responsbility. It would likely set a precedent that they wouldn't care to have hanging over their head in the future.

[shakedown067]

Sounds like someone sold the car, didn't set it back to factory and tried to sell off the programer. Probably didn't even know better. Sucks, but you'll need the original car to set it back to factory so it'll free it up. I got mine used, but made sure it was clean before getting it. Good luck to you.